Weaving OS into other processes (long)

[Harrison Owen]

At 10:42 PM 6/3/2002 -0800, Julie wrote:
>Harrison graciously engaged in a conversation with me and others about a
>similar topic several months ago. I think my original question had
>something to do with what happened to the conflict that I knew must be
>present in the situations people were describing here. Coming from the
>place of being a mediator in my professional life, I was curious about
>what OST facilitators do with the conflict they encounter in OST events.
>
>By the time we finished that conversation, I had become aware of an
>entirely new (to me) way to think about conflict.  I began to see that
>conflict is sometimes created from the container of interaction being too
>small and too limiting, and I began to understand how the OST process
>might allow participants to bypass huge chunks of conflict simply by
>providing enough space and freedom for people to converse authentically
>about what is important to them rather than bumping up against unnecessary
>barriers and obstacles.

In the search for Peace, which I guess is what Conflict Resolution is all
about, Peace is often understood in terms of the elimination of such things
as chaos, confusion and conflict. I think this is an error, and although
this unholy trinity (chaos, confusion and conflict) are all damned
uncomfortable, they are also, i think, essential to the progress of life --
and in fact life itself. Those who spend their lives looking at the process
and function of open, living systems (which is what we are individually and
collectively) seem pretty well agreed that all living systems need a little
chaos to get by. In fact when you reach equilibrium in biology, you are
dead. Confusion, it seems to me, is the intellectual equivalent of chaos,
and it has the positive virtue of opening space in the mind by clearing out
strongly held notions in order to permit more adequate ones to emerge. In a
word, confusion might well be the essential first step to wisdom. As for
conflict -- it clearly occurs when people care deeply. And caring is
critical for a better world. Conflict is also the way in which ideas and
actions are honed and improved. So as i see it, the elimination of all
three would leave a pretty flabby life. To me the real issue  is to provide
sufficient space so that all three (chaos, confusion and conflict) can get
up a real head of steam without blowing the whole engine. And of course
sometimes, the engine is blown. But as they say, when it is over it is
over. I think we experience a lot of this in Open Space, which is why many
(most, all?) of the things we might hope to achieve with Conflict
Resolution (and similar approaches) take place -- apparently naturally. No
training, no process, not even a mention of the holy words mediation,
resolution etc.

>I now think Harrison is right.  I think OST challenges prevailing notions
>about conflict resolution in significant ways.  I haven t quite figured
>out how it all fits together yet, but I do know I no longer feel a need or
>desire to mediate... seems like an awful lot of doing...  :)

I don't know that I have it figured out either -- but try this idea on for
size. The achievement of peace, which is not to be confused with the
elimination of chaos, confusion and conflict, but rather their inclusion
and transcendence, is what every open, living, complex, adaptive,
self-organizing system does. Some better, some worse, but peace making is a
natural act which will take place, provided the essential preconditions are
in place. Creating those conditions, as an intentional act, is what we do
when we open space. So Opening Space is in fact the practice of peace. How
about those bananas???

>There, am I a good disciple yet?  Is there some kind of advancement...
>like a gold star on my forehead or a green belt around my waist, or...
>hey, how about refilling that glass of wine, Harrison?  (I ll order
>another brandy for you...) :)

Forget the disciple bit -- but a drink sounds pretty good. And B... is
certainly a good beginning letter. But I would follow with ...eefeater. As
in Beefeater. As you know Open Space started with two Martinis, and Brandy
just won't do it. And as a matter of fact, you can forget the vermouth too.
But the drink will have to wait as I am off just now for a little field
work with an interesting group of Palestinians and Israelis. We will see if
some of these crazy ideas actually work.

Harrison


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

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